Jain Spirit 2003 03 No 14

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 42

THE SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS OF JAINISM
• Carelessness - sloth in following a spiritual path, • Passions - anger, pride, deceit, gluttony and covetousness, • Activities - especially violence The path to purification, and thus self-conquest, is austerity. The practice of austerity not only prevents or slows down the inflow of new karmons into the soul but also causes the existing karmic matter to decay over time. The practice of austerity involves: • Restraint - self control, • Watchfulness - mindfulness in living well and not activating the karmic agents, • Righteousness - rules of morality and disposition of character, • Reflections - reflecting on philosophical truths, • Afflictions mastery - mental mastery over hardships. Near the end of the book, Mardia analyses Jain logic, especially the Jain holistic principle of knowledge (i.e. for true knowledge one has to take all the relative perspectives or points of view) and the principle of conditional predication (i.e. nothing is absolutely known unless the soul is 'perfect').
The final part of the book considers parallels between Jain ideas and modern physics, especially particle physics. He draws several suggestive analogies, but thankfully Mardia resists the temptation to make them more than analogies. This brings us to a critical point in the understanding of the entire book. How are we to interpret the axioms? To help answer this question more specifically, we could ask: how are we to interpret these enigmatic particles called karmons? Are they objectively a part of the fabric of the universe and composed of matter or energy? Or are they non-material? Or, perhaps, are they simply rhetorical devices that Jain teachers and texts of antiquity developed to explain why one should live a life of Right Conduct? These are very deep issues in the interpretation of Jain philosophy itself. However, Mardia has highlighted them by styling his book in a scientific way. On the whole, Mardia does not explicitly specify his view. The thrust of the book does seem to imply his belief that the 'karmons' are literally material objects in the material world. At one point (page 10) he makes a perhaps flippant remark that 'presumably the gravitational force of karmons) is small', which illustrates his materialist position. In taking this position, Mardia is undoubtedly in agreement with the orthodox Jain interpretation. To my mind, though, one should take care in the interpretation of the texts, and a less literal reading of them may be warranted. We could take a more humanistic view of Jainism being about Right Conduct to foster well being and flourish in human beings. The pollution of the soul by bliss obscuring karmic particles is a very useful allegory or even analogy, but to interpret it as literal truth is to confuse the spiritual with the material.
That being said, Professor Mardia's book has done a great service to the Jain tradition for two reasons. It is an extremely accessible book
on Jainism for young and inquiring readers who
have a scientific approach. Only few books on THE SCIENTIFIC
Jainism engage so directly with the subject matter. FOUNDATIONS OF
The second, and perhaps the greater reason is that in Jainism
formulating the axiomatic approach to Jainism, he has encapsulated Jain philosophy into a self-contained, ordered logical set of principles which start at the foundations and proceed to the practice. This is very powerful, and is reminiscent of the four noble truths of Buddha, the axiomatic encapsulation of his philosophy. 2
BE TH 2 :13
संगगाख्यान
K. Mardia
K. V. Mardia, 'The Scientific Foundations of Jainism, Second Edition, Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi, ISBN: 81-208-0659-1 Dr. Shamil Chandaria is an investment banker and a student of ancient philosophy
March - May 2003. Jain Spirit
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